“It is cool,” Trevor said. “I wish I were psychic.”
“Yeah, well, it may be cool at times, but I don’t think I’m ready for my face to be out there all over the Internet as the kid who can see the future. You don’t know what it’s like to be a freak.” No one ever understood. Devin always feared that one day he would be doing a routine checkup at the doctor’s, and then he’d never get to go home. He’d spend the rest of his life under the microscope.
Nika looked away from Devin and stared at her feet. “I kind of know how you feel.”
“You do?” Devin asked, studying Nika. She was acting strange. Distant. As if she wanted to tell them something, but didn’t have the words for it.
“We should probably find a way out of here,” she said after a moment’s hesitation.
“Yeah,” Trevor agreed. “We just have to keep telling ourselves that this is all part of the adventure. If we do that, we’ll be fine. Just remember that we’re supposed to be here.”
“But you’re not supposed to be here,” a voice spoke from inside their helmets.
Devin froze, listening. The voice didn’t sound as if it belonged to VIC or anyone else he knew.
“You heard that too, didn’t you?” Trevor asked, narrowing his eyes in concentration. Nika tilted her head slightly to one side to listen.
“This is not part of the ride,” the voice continued. It sounded garbled and inhuman. Not a smooth, calming voice like the one VIC used, or the grinding robotic drone of the Ganglion, but more like that of a croaking bullfrog.
“What do you mean by that?” Devin asked, moving closer to the group until the four of them stood within inches of each other.
“You were invited to this room for a reason. A reason some would not want you to know about.” From the far corner of the cave, something dropped from the ceiling. It landed gracefully, producing hardly a thud against the stone floor.
Trevor took a few steps toward the figure crouching in the shadows beneath a particularly enormous, pulsating mushroom.
“Stay where you are, Trevor,” the voice insisted, as the thing in the corner hissed menacingly.
“Why?” Trevor asked. “What is that?”
“What am I? I, like you, am something that shouldn’t be here,” the voice clarified. “I was put here by my creator to serve a purpose.”
“The voice is coming from that thing!” Devin whispered. “This is freaking me out. How does it know your name?”
“I’ve been programmed to know each of you and to deliver a message.” The figure in the corner straightened to its full height, which was slightly taller than Cameron.
Dressed in a tattered uniform with odd-looking medals and thick-soled combat boots, the figure was definitely not human. In fact, Devin thought it resembled some sort of lizard. A gecko perhaps, with two bulging eyes moving independently of each other.
“Do not come closer. Do not touch me,” the lizard thing instructed, though it never opened its mouth or moved its lips when it talked. Instead, its words continued to pour out from inside their helmets.
“Don’t aggravate it,” Cameron pleaded.
Trevor held up his hands in a nonthreatening display. “I wasn’t going to touch him.”
“It’s obviously some sort of soldier, judging by the way it’s dressed,” Cameron said. “Which means it could attack us.”
“You are a virus. All of you,” the lizard said. “Your touch will destroy me and my message.”
“Then what’s your message?” Devin demanded.
One of the lizard’s eyes swiveled and focused in on Devin. A mushroom adhered to the wall beside the pile of toppled stone suddenly swelled to twice its original size and began to buzz. Then the phosphorescent light flickered off, like a faulty lightbulb. The creature looked alarmed.
“How were you chosen?” the lizard asked, blinking solemnly.
“What does that mean?” Devin asked. “Do you mean for the ride?”
It nodded.
“We entered a contest,” Nika said. “We were randomly selected.”
A clucking sound began to rise from the creature’s throat. At first, Devin thought the lizard was choking, but then he realized that it was actually laughing, emitting a low, methodical chuckle. “Your selection was not random,” it said. “The contest is a farce. You are special. Only you can make it work. Only you can break it. You are being stolen!” The lizard’s voice echoed in Devin’s helmet. “Can’t you feel it? Don’t you see? The Adventure Machine is not what it seems!”
Nika brushed up against Devin’s arm. “I don’t think this is meant to be part of the ride,” she whispered.
It was almost as if the four of them had slipped into a glitch in the system. Something not part of the Adventure Machine’s original programming.
“We are being stolen?” Cameron asked. “Explain what that means.”
“No time. I have already been discovered and will be vanquished soon,” the lizard said.
One by one, the other mushrooms in the cave did the same as the first, buzzing, flickering, and then dimming until the once-bright light had all but vanished. “Someone on the inside has corrupt intentions,” the lizard continued. Only the mushroom directly above him remained, and it too had begun to buzz. “They will do all that they can to stop you. You must end this. Do it now before it’s too late!”
The lizard’s eyes swiveled once more. When the voice spoke again, it came across distorted. Devin could barely pick out the words in between fits of ear-piercing static. He could, however, hear a different voice struggling to break through. The sound had grown so loud and sharp, Devin wanted to yank his helmet from his head and toss it aside. He clamped his eyes shut from the pain, but then it stopped. When he opened them, the only mushroom left lit in the cave gave one final flicker, and the uniformed lizard vanished. The room plunged once more into darkness, but only for a fleeting moment. Then a new light appeared where the creature once stood.
It was a bright red Exit sign.
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT POURED in as Cameron poked his head through the exit, twisting from left to right as he examined the track. “That’s impossible,” he muttered.
The Adventure Machine cart rested on the opposite side of the exit door, balancing at the peak of a sloping stretch. Above Cameron, security lights dotted an expansive section of curved wall that towered hundreds of feet in the air. He could see the winding metal track like the skeletal remains of an enormous dinosaur, looming all around. “It must be a duplicate. Our vehicle went miles and miles in the opposite direction.”
Trevor approached the cart. He picked up one of the tethered abort remotes and waved it in the air. “It’s definitely our ride. These are scattered all over the place, except for the one beneath my seat. Just how we left them.”
Cameron remained in the doorway, keeping his foot wedged beneath the door to prevent it from closing. Just in case. Not that the damp mountain was by any means ideal. With that peculiar lizard and the glowing fungi, Cameron doubted an actual safe place existed inside the Globe. Still, the Adventure Machine cart almost certainly spelled complete disaster. “What just happened?”
“We got out of there,” Devin answered. “And it’s about time, if you ask me.”
“Am I the only one worried about what that lizard said?” Cameron asked. “It told us that we were being stolen. And that someone was corrupt. I’m thinking that refers to someone who works on or operates the Adventure Machine.”
Devin, who’d already climbed into the cart, rapped his knuckles on the back of the seat. “What does it want with us?”
“I’m thinking it’s not really us this person wants to steal, but our abilities,” Cameron said.
“But I’m the only one with an ability. What, does he or she want to be psychic? I mean clairvoyant?”
Cameron glared at Devin. “Don’t forget, I’m a genius.”
Trevor glanced sideways at Cameron. “Yes, we know.”
“I don’t mean that in
a condescending way,” Cameron said, growing impatient. Honestly, talking with middle school children could be quite taxing at times. You had to spell everything out in simple terms. Cameron may have been a year or two younger than the three of them, but only in age. “I’m a genius because of a medical condition I’ve had since birth. Hyperactive ingenuity. Due to this condition, my intellect has been able to accelerate.”
“Okay, so there’s two of us, then,” Devin said. “Big deal.”
Cameron pursed his lips and sighed. Devin’s reaction earlier had been less than favorable, but the circumstances in the Adventure Machine had drastically changed. Everyone needed to know all the facts. Cameron nodded at Trevor expectantly. “Don’t you feel it’s time to clue everyone in? There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Your condition is quite impressive.”
Devin looked at Trevor and then back at Cameron. “Seriously? He has a special ability? What is it? He knows how to annoy people really well?” Devin snickered, and Trevor smiled, playing along.
“No, Trevor was born with a misfiring amygdala,” Cameron explained.
Devin made a worried expression. “Yikes. Sorry, man. That sounds bad.”
Cameron groaned, wishing he had something to throw. Not that he would actually throw it at Devin. The guy might have been naive, but Cameron barely stood midway past Devin’s belly button. “It means he was born absolutely fearless.”
Devin gnawed on his lower lip and prepared to grin, as though waiting for the punchline. “Bull,” he said. “No way. Fearless?”
Trevor shrugged. “I’m afraid so.” Then he laughed. “Get it? Afraid?”
Devin reclined in his chair. “Sorry, but I don’t buy that for one second.”
“I believe it.” Nika had been quiet since Cameron started up the discussion, but now she looked at Trevor with a sort of subtle admiration. “When we were in space, you tried to touch the comet. You were going to do it, weren’t you?”
“Maybe not,” Trevor said, shrugging.
Cameron leaned against the door in the entryway. “So you see? My intellect, Devin’s clairvoyance, Trevor’s fearlessness. That makes three of us with conditions worth stealing.”
Nika sighed. “Four of us.”
Cameron clapped his hands. “I knew it! I just knew there had to be something special about you. You’re very good at keeping it hidden, though, and off-line.”
“Well?” Trevor asked Nika.
“Yeah, what makes you so special?” Devin swiveled in his seat to face her.
Nika pressed her lips together before speaking. “I have a condition called congenital insensitivity.”
Cameron’s eyes lit up. “Oh my!” What an amazing find! Congenital insensitivity? And that did explain some things. And yet, that didn’t thoroughly explain Nika’s unusual behavior. She behaved as though she was afraid of any contact whatsoever. Had living with her condition that long changed her responses to normal situations?
“What does that mean?” Devin asked.
“I don’t feel pain,” she said. “My body doesn’t produce that sensation at all.”
Trevor was shocked. “That’s pretty cool,” he said. “Why do you seem so sad about it? If I had your ability, I’d celebrate.”
Nika’s eyes opened rapidly, and she looked up at Trevor. “It is not cool. It is horrible. I never know when I am injured. I never know if I’ve done something bad to myself, and no one ever understands. They always tell me that they wished they had my condition.” She gritted her jaw. “But they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
The four of them fell into an awkward silence as Nika folded her arms and stared at the floor. After a moment, Cameron cleared his throat. “The lizard said we should end this. How can we…End what?”
“Couldn’t it just be that this is part of our adventure?” Devin asked. “Maybe we’re all freaking out for no reason.”
“I do think it was strange how Doug came to my home to convince my grandfather to let me come here,” Nika said. “Why did he have to convince him? Either I could participate or not. If we refused, there were countless other children who could’ve taken my place. I was so excited to have a chance for a real adventure, I didn’t take the time to wonder how he knew about me when hardly anyone does.”
“Tell me about it,” Cameron said. “You’re a mystery, to be certain.”
“He came to my house too,” Devin said.
“So the whole contest was just a fake?” Trevor asked. “A way to lure us out here to ride the Adventure Machine?”
Cameron allowed the door to close behind him and slowly approached the cart. “Not a fake. Just rigged. They would have had to be very careful because the media was involved. If they caught wind of treachery on the part of the Castletons, they could’ve exposed it to the world. A mistake like that could shut down the ride forever.”
“Why would they not just ask us to come?” Trevor wondered. “Why take the risk?”
Cameron sighed. “Now, that I don’t know. But he is Doug Castleton. A bold risk-taker by nature.”
Nika waited patiently for Cameron to climb back in, and then she carefully swung her leg over the side of the cart. At the exact moment she slid into her seat, thick smoke suddenly began pouring out from the hood. It vented and spat, and Cameron was about to leap from the train, when another loud crackle of static echoed through their helmets.
“How’s everyone holding up?”
“Is that VIC?” Devin asked, elevating his voice above the sound of the venting hood.
“No need to shout,” VIC answered. “I can hear you loud and clear.”
Trevor peered across the cone of the cart at the cloud. “Where did you go? And why are we smoking?”
VIC chuckled, his robotic voice growing slightly distorted. “As I’m sure you’re well aware, the Adventure Machine has had a breakdown. We’ll have you back on track in a few minutes.”
“Breakdown?” Trevor asked, climbing into his seat. “We just got back in the cart.”
“If you would remain in your seats until a fix can be issued, that would be swell,” VIC continued. “Please keep your helmets on for your own protection.” Another bout of static filled Cameron’s ears. He cringed, clamping his hands to the sides of his helmet.
Trevor nudged Cameron’s arm. “Is VIC malfunctioning or something?”
“I don’t think VIC knows we got out of the cart,” Cameron whispered.
“How could he not know?” Devin asked, keeping his voice low. “He was the one who told us to exit, remember?”
Nika leaned forward. “Unless that wasn’t really VIC,” she said. “What if what we thought was VIC was really someone else trying to direct us toward the cave and that lizard.”
Cameron nodded at Nika. Those were his thoughts exactly, which added to his growing suspicion about the Adventure Machine. Cameron held his finger up to his visor and shushed the others. “Don’t reveal anything to VIC. Just keep quiet and see how this plays out.”
More static erupted from Cameron’s helmet. “I should be able to discover a way to reboot your vehicle in no time,” VIC said.
Cameron stiffened in his seat. “Before you get us rolling, I think it would be more critical to fix our seat belts. There’s no way to latch them in place. You know this, I presume?”
“Good call,” Devin said, slipping his arms under the straps and making yet another attempt to fasten the buckle. “That would’ve been bad.”
“Ah, yes,” VIC said, followed by yet another piercing round of static. Cameron wanted badly to yank his helmet off and cover his ears. “Have you tried resetting the locking mechanism on your safety harnesses?”
“How do we do that?” Nika asked. “That wasn’t explained to us.”
“It’s quite simple. There’s a lever on the underside of the latch where you insert the harness buckle. Just push that down, and you should hear it click. After that, the harness should be operational once more.”
Cameron located the lever and fo
llowed VIC’s instructions. The others did the same, but unfortunately, the procedure didn’t work. None of their harnesses would buckle into the latch.
“Interesting,” VIC said. “Give me just a few moments to assess this.”
A soft hum began to vibrate through the base of the train. Though it was hardly noticeable at first, Cameron could feel it gaining strength.
“All right,” VIC announced. “It appears that more than a minor malfunction has occurred with the Adventure Machine’s wiring. At present, I can’t restart your vehicle.”
Cameron rested his hand on his seat cushion. “But I can feel it buzzing as if we’re still holding a charge.”
“The electrical conduit within the track is still live. It’s programmed to recycle periodically and can do so without causing any disruption, even when the ride is operating. When the train went off-line, it must have coincided with the recycle. What you’re feeling now is normal.”
Cameron looked over the side down at the tubular track beneath them. “If we’re live, won’t that be dangerous to touch?”
“Not for you. You’ll maintain an electrical ground as long as you continue wearing your neotanium suits,” VIC explained.
“Great. So we won’t get shocked, but we can’t go anywhere,” Devin said.
“On the contrary,” VIC said. “It just so happens vector seven, where your train is currently stationed, is conveniently positioned on the apex of a tumble.”
“Of a what?” Trevor asked.
“A tumble is not quite steep enough to be labeled as a hill. Approximately forty feet down this tumble, the track levels off and connects with a solid platform just before plunging down the Palisade, a three-hundred-and-thirty-foot drop,” VIC said. “At the base of the tumble, there’s a section of switch rail, which will allow the train to go off track to a safe workstation. To remedy your current predicament, one would simply need to descend the tumble and engage the switch rail’s release mechanism.”
Trevor glanced around at the others, his forehead crinkling in confusion. “What is he talking about?”
The World's Greatest Adventure Machine Page 11
